UW-La Crosse Holds Off UW-Stevens Point

La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team earned a 28-21 victory over UW-Stevens Point Saturday afternoon at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex. The Eagles improve to 2-5 overall and 2-2 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) with their second straight win overall. The Pointers, receiving votes on this week's D3football.com and American Football Coaches Association Top-25 Poll, falls to 4-3 overall and 2-2 in the conference. It is UW-L's third straight win over UW-Stevens Point.

UW-Stevnes Point got the scoreboard first on the first possession of the game. UW-L was forced to punt from its own 29-yard line, but the Pointers' Mike Longmeyer blocked Matt Van Druten's punt and Brodie Johnson returned the ball 35-yards for a touchdown with 11:53 left in the opening quarter.

UW-L then scored 28 straight points to lead 28-7 at halftime. The Eagles tied the contest at 7-7 with 5:44 remaining in the first quarter on Jude Williams' 30-yard touchdown run. UW-L went three plays and 45 yards in 1:11. The drive was set-up by Gavin Marquart's 39-yard punt return.

The Pointes' Adam Vesterfelt then fumbled on the next possession of the game with the Eagles' Nick Berg recovery the ball at the UW-Stevens Point 34-yard line. One play later, Trent Cummings hit Tommy Young with a 34-yard touchdown pass with 5:22 left in the opening quarter to give UW-L a 14-7 lead.

Cummings threw his second touchdown of the quarter with 4:09 left in the second quarter as he connected with Scott Shewmon on a seven-yard pass. The touchdown pass came on the first play after the Eagles' place-kicker Matt Van Druten ran six-yards for a first down on a 30-yard fake field goal attempt. UW-L went 38 yards in six plays and 2:29 to take a 21-7 advantage.

UW-Stevens Point quarterback Mitch Beau was intercepted by UW-L's Jon Becker on the Pointers' next possession with Becker returning it to the UW-Stevens Point 40-yard line. Cummings hit Tony Favre with a 32-yard touchdown pass with 1:11 left in the first half for a 28-7 lead. UW-L went 40 yards in three plays and :38.

The Pointers took the second half kickoff and cut their deficit to 28-14 as Beau scored on a seven-yard run with 9:19 left in the third quarter. UW-Stevens Point went 70 yards in 12 plays and 5:41.

After UW-L went three-and-out on its next possession, UW-Stevens Point drove 73 yards in 21 plays and 8:58, but Jesse Vervelde missed a 23-yard field goal attempt to keep it 28-14. UW-L was forced to punt on its next possession and UW-Stevens Point used four plays to go 43 yards in :42 as Beau threw an eight-yard touchdown pass to Matt Sosinsky to cut the lead to 28-21 with 11:34 left in the game.

The Eagles earned their first first down of the second half on their next drive, but were forced to punt. Beau was intercepted by UW-L's Austin Feuerhelm at the UW-Stevens Point 38-yard line. Cumming was then intercepted by the Pointers' Jake Luedtke four plays latter.

The teams traded punts on the next two possessions with UW-Stevens Point taking over at its own 12-yard line with 2:06 remaining. Beau completed four of his first five passes on the drive, taking the ball to the UW-Stevens Point 44-yard line. The Pointers later drove to the Eagles' 23-yard line. Beau threw a six-yard completion to Luke Neubauer to UW-L 17-yard line, but UW-Stevens Point was forced to call its last time out with :13 remaining.

Beau threw two incompletions, setting up fourth-down with just over two seconds left. Beau connected with Neubauer down to the UW-L two-yard line, but he was stopped on the play by the Eagles' Brett Benson. Neubauer was called for an illegal forward pass on the play, which was declined by UW-L as the game ended.

UW-L finished with 260 yards of offense, including 77 rushing and 183 passing. Williams had 44 yards rushing on five attempts (8.8 average) while Ben Hertrampf finished with 28 yards on 15 carries. Cummings was 15-of-26 passing for 183 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. He was sacked three times.

Favre caught four passes for 52 yards and one touchdown while Alex Lepp had three receptions for 25 yards.

The Eagles were three-of-14 on third-down.

UW-Stevens Point totaled 440 yards Saturday, including 162 rushing and 278 passing. DeJuan Wright finished with 61 yards rushing on 12 attempts while Vesterfelt had 60 yards on 15 carries. Beau finished 30-of-52 passing for 278 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. He was sacked twice.

Neubauer had eight catches for 81 yards while Sosinsky finished with five receptions for 61 yards and a touchdown.

The Pointers were 10-of-18 on third-down and won the time of possession, 35:27 to 24:33.

Shane Rockweiler led UW-L with 16 tackles, including 14 unassisted. He also recorded one forced fumble and one pass break-up. Jake Perner had 10 tackles (six unassisted) with one pass break-up while Feuerhelm finished with nine tackles (six unassisted), one interception and one forced fumble. Jordan Pendergast and Nick Berg each had a quarterback sack.

Cody Seibel led UW-Stevens Point with 12 tackles, including 10 unassisted. He had 2.5 tackles for loss. Mitch Chester also had 2.5 tackles for loss.